An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.443.5

c5.s1.443.5

to let the elephant Reṇuka in Rasātala go and question the Diggajas (the elephants who sustain the earth) about the mysteries of dharma. Asked by Reṇuka, the Diggajas recommended a çrāddha, with gifts of treacle and rice, on the 8th day of the dark fortnight of Kārttika, under the conjunction of the moon with Āçleṣā, uttering certain mantras (mentioning "Baladeva and other Nāgas," and "Nārāyaṇa when he raised the submerged earth"), and making bali offerings of blue cloth and fragrant unguents upon an uthill strewn with gajendra flowers at sunset. Thereby those beings in the nether regions that bear the weight of the upper regions become pleased, and the Diggajas do not feel the weight of upholding the earth. By observing this rule for a whole year, and fasting, the four castes acquire great merit; it is equal to hospitality for 100 years to all the elephants in the three worlds. D., P., and R. applauded Reṇuka (XIII, 132). Çiva recommended to give food to cows every day for a month, contenting oneself with one meal a day; he who gives food to cows even for a single day, receives one-fourth of the merit of all his meritorious acts; cows uphold the three worlds with D., As., and men; Çiva had praised them in the Kṛta age; at the solicitation of Brahmān a bull stands in his banner, and he always sports with cows; only believers should be instructed in these mysteries (XIII, 133).